Man City teenager Rico Lewis is ready to take his chance in absence of World Cup stars

Teenager Rico Lewis is striving to seize his chance over the coming days while Manchester City’s experienced names come back from the World Cup.

Lewis, who has already scored on his full Champions League debut during a breakthrough season, could be in line to start against rivals Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night.

The 18-year-old has drawn high praise from manager Pep Guardiola as he acts as an understudy to City’s senior options at right back.

Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo were among those knocked out at the quarter-final stage and, as of Tuesday morning, had not returned to training.

‘I’m not really focusing (on that), but it’s in the back of your mind that a few players out and not everyone will be eligible to play,’ Lewis said. ‘There will be opportunities there, but it’s on the day whatever gets picked gets picked.

‘Thursday will be big. I’ve got no clue if I play or not, I’d love to but it’s not my choice, it’s up to the manager - whatever he picks I’ll do.’

Lewis, who was among a small number of first-team players who visited Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather camp during the World Cup, also featured in an FA Youth Cup win with the Under 18s last week despite his growing reputation.

‘I asked to play, they came to me and said, “we’re going to ask,” and I said make sure you ask because I want to play, I just want to play as many games as I can to keep me as sharp as I can,’ he added.

‘I just love playing football, especially this year, I’ve been on the bench quite a lot and not been able to play as many games as I wish, so any games I can play I’d love to play in.

‘You’ve got to manage it, I can’t go week in and week out being on the bench because I’ll lose fitness and lose sharpness, but then I want to be on the bench because there are opportunities to play. It’s just getting it right.’

City’s only friendly before the return of the domestic game was a 2-0 victory over sister club Girona last weekend, with a trip to Leeds United on the horizon next week.

Lewis also revealed that Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne – the first players back from international duty – have barely spoken about Qatar. Germany and Belgium both suffered embarrassing group-stage exits.

‘They’ve not really mentioned it, once it’s the past it’s the past, you can’t really focus on that anymore. It’s more about when we’re here, we’re here. It’s not been talked about much.

‘It (the schedule) is difficult, it is a new thing for them, we’ll just see when everyone comes back how it affects them and how it affects the rest of the teams in the Premier League as well.’